(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field regarding an information recording apparatus, an information recording method, and an information recording medium in which a program for recording information is recorded so as to be readable through a computer. More particularly, the invention relates to a technical field regarding an information recording apparatus in a personal computer, which is used as a data recorder for the personal computer, an information recording method, and an information recording medium in which an information recording program for the information recording is recorded so as to be readable through a computer including the personal computer.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in a field regarding an optical disc such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), the trend toward higher recording density is pronounced. Lately, an optical disc in which image information and speech information as much as one movie are recorded is being commercially available. A data recorder for the optical disc can also be provided for a personal computer.
The foregoing movie is generally protected by copyright. Copying the movie without asking a copyright holder for permission is prohibited in principle with some exceptions. Accordingly, to prevent the illegal copy, a general video recorder, which originally intends to record the movie in the optical disc, is constructed so that, for example, the presence or absence of recording inhibition information embedded in recording signals corresponding to the movie according to a so-called electronic watermark technique is detected to prevent the illegal copy.
On the other hand, the data recorder is different from the general video recorder. The data recorder cannot previously determine that any kind of data is inputted to the recorder and is then recorded. Consequently, it is general that the data recorder does not include a configuration for preventing the above-mentioned illegal copy.
On the other hand, recently, recording signals corresponding to the movie can be copied through the personal computer. Accordingly, in the foregoing data recorder, it is also necessary to have the configuration for preventing the illegal copy.
In the illegal copy preventing method by using the above-mentioned electronic watermark technique, however, upon recording in the optical disc, it is necessary to analyze the content of the inputted recording signal in detail and detect the presence or absence of the recording inhibition information. When the data recorder includes the configuration for the above purpose, the circuit scale of the data recorder is increased.
In many cases, the recording signals for the movie are formed in conformity with so-called DVD video standards. According to the DVD video standards, the recording signals are subjected to a compression processing according to a system such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) system. Accordingly, the analyzing processing becomes more complicated, so that a circuit for analysis with a large scale is further needed.
Furthermore, in addition to the above circuit for analysis, a circuit for detecting the recording inhibition information from the analyzed recording signal is also needed. The circuit scale of the data recorder becomes larger as a whole.
As for the data recorder for the personal computer, it is necessary to store the recorder into the housing of the personal computer. For this reason, the miniaturization of the data recorder is desired. When the circuit scale is increased as mentioned above, the miniaturization cannot be realized.